ALBANY — On his inauguration day, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo cut a red ribbon to signify the reopening of the Hall of Governors on the second floor of the Capitol. For the first time in more than a decade, Mr. Cuomo happily proclaimed, New Yorkers would once again be able to visit their chief executive freely.

But after three weeks, Mr. Cuomo and his aides have noticed something they did not quite expect: New Yorkers, it seems, do not want to visit them.

“You know one of the most striking things to me about Albany, the last few weeks that I’ve been up there?” Mr. Cuomo told an audience at Marist College last week. “There are no people. You walk around the Capitol, you see no people.”

By people, Mr. Cuomo meant ordinary people — private citizens, not lobbyists or lawmakers — and the kind of visitors he thought would come gaze at the big portraits in the Hall of Governors now that its security cordon has been lifted.

Mr. Cuomo said everyone he had consulted advised him not to reopen the second floor, on the grounds that allowing members of the public to mill about might pose a security risk and that there would be hordes of people clogging up the hallway outside the offices of Mr. Cuomo and his aides.

“You know what?” Mr. Cuomo told the audience. “Nobody’s there. You could bowl in the Hall of Governors. You’d hurt no one.”

The anecdote about the second floor was a new addition to what amounted to Mr. Cuomo’s third encore of his State of the State speech. He brought up the tale as supporting evidence for his argument to voters that they need to reach out to the state government and demand that their lawmakers change their ways — and they cannot simply hope that Mr. Cuomo will fix everything himself.

But at the Capitol, the reopening of the second floor posed something of a logistical fascination to the reporters and members of the political class who spend their days here. It had been closed off, with a uniformed state trooper standing guard to request identification from anyone wishing to enter, since shortly after Gov. George E. Pataki took office in 1995 (earning it the nickname of Fort Pataki).

So few had any idea what an unshackled, open-to-the-public Executive Chamber would entail. Would protesters cause mayhem? Would the governor effectively be trapped in his own office, lest he get ambushed by activists with video cameras lingering in the hallway outside? Would busloads of tourists, admiring the big oil paintings of governors past, cause human bottlenecks in the Hall of Governors?

Apparently not. In the past few weeks, especially on days when the Legislature was not in session, a visitor could stand in the Hall of Governors without realizing he was not just in any old high-ceilinged corridor in the Capitol.

The tourists have not yet come, at least not en masse. Neither have the protesters. The only people that seem to be taking advantage of the openness, Mr. Cuomo’s aides say, are reporters, who have taken to wandering over from their desks a floor above to seek out members of the governor’s staff.

But the relative serenity on the second floor may soon change. The release of Mr. Cuomo’s budget at the beginning of February will inevitably bring protesters to the Capitol, seeking to take aim at the governor for the huge budget cuts.

Citing a policy against commenting on security matters, a spokesman for Mr. Cuomo, Josh Vlasto, declined to discuss whether a policy had been established in regard to protesters who seek to enter the Hall of Governors.

“We have confidence in the State Police to keep the building, its visitors, staff and the governor safe and secure, ” Mr. Vlasto said.

But if things do go haywire, Mr. Cuomo has another work space where he would be able to find peace and quiet. His office suite in Manhattan, in a high-rise building at 633 Third Avenue, is not accessible to the public.

— THOMAS KAPLAN

At a Program on Audits, Listening Works Both Ways

“I want to thank all of you for coming out on this warm, sunny day,” John C. Liu, the New York City comptroller, said as he stood in a high school auditorium, microphone in hand, on a day this week when the temperature hit a low of 6 degrees. “For coming out to this audit town hall.”

That’s right. On Monday night, Mr. Liu drew more than 150 people out into frigid temperatures to talk about the auditing function of his office. Really.

The evening was intended to answer constituent questions about what an audit is (a common problem for anyone in Mr. Liu’s office is that few voters know what the comptroller actually does) and to solicit suggestions on agencies and programs that might warrant a good, long look.

Some of the attendees that evening wandered into the subterranean auditorium down by City Hall after seeing a sign on the street. Others came as part of a group, eager to have the attention of a citywide official. One man brought along his dog, Margarita, in an eggplant-colored bag.

Mr. Liu made a brief introduction (“I have heard the term audit and root canal used in the same sentence quite often,” he said) and then ceded the floor to H. Tina Kim, the deputy comptroller for audits. He took a seat in the front row, between two Council members, Robert Jackson and Margaret Chin, and pulled out a pen.

“I could sit here and talk to you about auditing for the next hour and a half, but then you really would feel like you were having a root canal,” Ms. Kim said from the stage. “We want to hear your feedback.”

With that, a dozen people quickly materialized in the aisle and lined up behind a microphone. One by one, they stepped up to request audits on everything from public housing to pension funds to public safety, while Mr. Liu took furious notes.

One woman proposed a Business Improvement District in Chinatown. Another went on for a full five minutes about schools — among other things — before Mr. Liu, very gently, suggested that she give the next person a turn. More people joined the line.

“It’s rare to see elected officials actually stay and listen,” said Harry Bubbins, a man in a rainbow-colored, knit hat who stepped up to the microphone to talk about parks and development in the South Bronx. “I really want to commend you for that.”

Mr. Bubbins made a brief statement about inequity, and then took a seat in the back row.

“He’s going to sit down and stay; that’s very rare,” he whispered quietly of Mr. Liu. “Action is what counts though, so we’ll see.”

The amazingly few comments about this article and the other articles about Cuomo may be another indicator that no one really cares or thinks the Governor is all that important. Cuomo may be as well remembered someday as ol’ whats-iz-name, that guy who served as Governor before that other guy.

I grew up outside Boston, and enjoyed wandering through the halls of the Massachusetts State House as a teenager. I’ve often thought that locating state government away from major population centers is a large reason why the people feel alienated from their government and why those in power avoid being accountable for their actions.

I think the people of New York have been beaten down. Like it or not, the people on Wall Street keep making millions while many others worry about how to pay their taxes. Like it or not, the state is getting $12.50 for a pack of cigarettes to balance the budget. Like it or not, there’s no direct bus down Broadway anymore, so tourists can sit outside Macy’s. People who live in New York, the city and the state, love living here, so they put up with a lot. But we watch some people make fortunes and then tell everybody else how to live, or corruption and waste that forces all of us to cough up (have you priced a driver’s license renewal lately–the most expensive in the US), or get told why somebody from publishing is OK to run the city schools…truthfully, it feels like no one listens and certainly no one cares.

Liu is the one that helped finally bring to light the CityTIme scandal, after Thompson signed all the checks over the years… the audit powers are powerful, up to the people to use the info and push for change! Audit NYC purchase of Ipe rainforest wood illegally and at great cost and waste in the long-term….

I am interning at the State Assembly this year and was doing the usual intern mail run/coffee/photocopy errand when I found myself lost in the Capitol building. A trooper noticed my perplexed look and asked me what I needed and directed me to walk through some double doors and I found myself in the Hall of Governors. The room is beautiful and has a quiet austere feel of a library. As I walked through I felt I was not supposed to be there and kept worrying that someone would stop me and ask me what I was doing there. I wonder if I can take my break there…

I don’t know if people realize it is open – or safe to go in – for over 5 years, it was forbidden. The Capitol has not been a friendly place for a long time… let it warm up and give people time. I don’t think its personal, Governor! And I do think it was the right thing to do.

I went to look at the hall of governors about a week ago and I can definitely see why very few people are going to this part of capitol building. When I went there, there was state trooper standing guard that I had to ask permission to walk down the hall even though it is supposedly open to the public.This trooper was watching me the entire time I was walking through the hall as if I was going to go into some executive office that I wasn’t supposed to be get into without an appointment. This obviously doesn’t encourage people to check out the hall if they happen to be in the capitol. Also, I was surprised to notice that there were no signs or notifications of any kind that mentioned that the hall of governors was now open to the public. Because of this, I feel that the only people who would know that it is now open are people who read political blogs like Capitol Confidential on a regular basis and learned of Cuomo’s executive order earlier this month.

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